Hi everyone, and welcome to Daily English. Today’s expression is very common and very human. It’s “call someone names.”

One more time: “call someone names.”

Two children were arguing in the playground. One of them got angry and started shouting insults.
 The teacher stepped in and said, “Stop calling each other names.”

So what does “call someone names” mean? To “call someone names” means to insult them by using rude or hurtful words.

Instead of discussing the problem calmly, a person attacks the other person with words.

Let’s listen to some examples:

During the debate, instead of explaining his ideas, he started calling his opponent names.
 The conversation quickly became less respectful.

Sometimes when people feel hurt or frustrated, they react by calling someone names, they react by namecalling instead of expressing their real feelings. By the way, name calling is the noun form.

Even adults sometimes fall into this habit. But calling someone names rarely solves anything.
 It usually makes the situation worse.

Strong conversations can still be respectful. And disagreement doesn’t have to turn into insults.

 Now it’s your turn: Have you ever seen a situation where people stopped listening and started calling each other names?

Thanks for listening to Daily English. Have a beautiful, lovely day and see you tomorrow.